EE215 Electronic Devices and Circuits

DE- 45 (C&SE)

Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT):

Device Structure and Physical Operation

Dr. Touseef Ali

Department of Electrical Engineering
 Recap
• Diodes
– Ideal Diode
– Terminal Characteristics of Diodes
• Forward-biased region
• Reverse-biased region
• Breakdown Region
– Diode models in forward bias region
• Piece-wise linear model
• Constant-voltage drop model
• Small signal model
– Zener diode and its applications in voltage regulation
– Half-wave and Full-wave rectifiers (center tap and bridge)
– Peak rectifier
– Clipper and Clampers, Voltage multipliers
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 Lecture Objectives

• What are three-terminal devices

• Utility of such devices

• Physical structure of BJTs

• Various modes of operation and current flow

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 Introduction
• Invented by Walter Brattain, John Bardeen, and William Shockley in
1949 when working for Bell Telephone Lab
• Remained device of choice for nearly three decades
• Faced serious competition from MOSFET beginning 1970s and 1980s
–Small size, low cost, and low power
• CMOS technology is prevalent technology for ICs
• Advantages of BJT over MOSFET
–High reliability in severe environment
– High-frequency operation
–High current drive
• Used extensively for
–RF digital and analog circuits
–Power Electronics
–Automobiles electronics
–Radiation hardened electronics
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 Applications of Three Terminal Devices

• Signal Amplification

• Design of Digital Circuits

• Memory Circuits

• Switches

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 Basic Operating Principle

Use of Voltage between Two Terminals to Control the Current in

the Third Terminal

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 Why is it known as BJT?

• Bipolar

– The main flow of electrons through BJT takes place in two types of
semiconductor materials: P and N

– Current is conducted by both electrons and holes

• Junction

– Two p-n junctions in series

• Transistor

– Will be discussed later

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 Simplified Structure of NPN BJT
LIGHTLY DOPED
HEAVILY DOPED MODERATELY DOPED

HIGH DENSITY OF ELECTRON

LOW DENSITY OF HOLES
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 Simplified Structure of PNP BJT

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 BJT Construction and Schematic Symbols

Collector Collector
C C
n p

Base p B Base n B
n p

E E
Emitter Emitter
npn transistor pnp transistor

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 NPN/PNP BJTs : Functional Differences
The only functional difference between a pnp transistor and an npn transistor is the
proper biasing (polarity) of the junctions when operating. For any given state of
operation, the current directions and voltage polarities for each type of transistor are
exactly opposite each other.
Collector Collector

IC IC
IB IB
Base Base IE = IC + IB

IE
IE

Emitter Emitter
npn transistor pnp transistor
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 BJT without Applied Bias

n
Collector-base
depletion region
B p
Emitter-base
n
depletion region

E
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 BJT Modes of Operation
Base-Emitter Junc. Collector-Base Junc. Operating Region
Reverse Reverse Cutoff (switch-off)
Forward Reverse Active (amplifier)
Forward Forward Saturation (switch-on)

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Operation of NPN Transistor
in Active Mode
 Current Flow in NPN (Active Mode)

To bias it in active mode, forward bias EBJ and reverse bias CBJ
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 Current Flow in NPN (Active Mode)
• Forward bias on the EBJ will cause current to flow across this junction
• Current will consist of two components:
– Electrons injected from the emitter into the base
– Holes injected from the base into the emitter
• Heavily doped emitter and a lightly doped base
– Highly desirable to have more electrons than holes flow
• Emitter current = holes + electrons (dominant)
• Electrons injected from the emitter into the base
– Minority carriers in p-type base
– Some electrons recombine with holes and are lost
– Lost electrons are very small thanks to its thin and lightly dopped design*
– Most of electrons will reach collector through reverse biased CBJ**
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*Otherwise, the BJT would just operate as two back-to-back diodes and no current would flow
** Thanks to V_CB
 Collector Current

• Collector current is carried by the electrons that reach the

collector region
• Proportional to 𝑒 𝑣𝐵𝐸/V𝑇 :
𝑖𝐶 = 𝐼𝑆 𝑒 𝑣𝐵𝐸/V𝑇
𝐴𝐸 𝑞𝐷𝑛 𝑛𝑝0 𝐴𝐸 𝑞𝐷𝑛 𝑛𝑖2
Saturation current 𝐼𝑆 = =
𝑊 𝑁𝐴 𝑊

• Magnitude of 𝑖𝐶 is independent of 𝑣𝐶𝐵

– As long as the collector is positive with respect to the base, the
electrons that reach the collector side of the base region will be
swept into the collector and register as collector current
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𝐴𝐸 = cross-sectional area of the BEJ, q= electron charge, 𝐷𝑛 =electron diffusivity in the base,
W= width of base, 𝑁𝐴 =dopping concentration in the base
 Base Current
• Base current 𝑖𝐵 is composed of two components:
– Due to the holes injected from the base region into the emitter region, 𝑖𝐵1
– Due to holes that have to be supplied by the external circuit to replace the
holes lost from the base through the recombination process, 𝑖𝐵2
– 𝑖𝐵2 ∝ 𝑒 𝑣𝐵𝐸 /𝑉𝑇 or 𝑖𝐵 ∝ 𝑒 𝑣𝐵𝐸 /𝑉𝑇
• Hence 𝑖𝐶 𝐼𝑆 𝑣 /𝑉
𝑖𝐵 = = 𝑒 𝐵𝐸 𝑇
𝛽 β
• 𝛽 is a transistor parameter called common-emitter current gain
– In the range 50 to 200
𝐷𝑃 𝑁𝐴 𝑊 1 𝑊 2
𝛽 = 1/( + )
𝐷𝑛 𝑁𝐷 𝐿𝑝 2 𝐷𝑛 𝜏𝑏
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 Emitter Current
• Using KCL, the emitter current 𝑖𝐸 is equal to the sum of the collector current
𝑖𝐶 and the base current 𝑖𝐵 :
𝑖𝐸 = 𝑖𝑐 + 𝑖𝐵
𝑖𝐶
• Using 𝑖𝐵 = : 𝛽+1
𝛽
𝑖𝐸 = 𝑖
𝛽 𝐶
• Or 𝑖𝐶 = 𝛼 𝑖𝐸

𝛽
• Where 𝛼 = is called the common-base current gain
1+𝛽
– Less than but close to unity
𝛼
– 𝛽=
1−𝛼
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 Profiles of Minority Carrier Concentration
(Active Mode)

𝑛𝑝 0 = 𝑛𝑝0 𝑒 𝑣𝐵𝐸 /𝑉𝑇

𝑑𝑛𝑝 (𝑥)
𝐼𝑛 = 𝐴𝐸 𝑞𝐷𝑛
𝑑𝑥
𝑛𝑝 (0)
= 𝐴𝐸 𝑞𝐷𝑛 (− 𝑊 )
slope
𝑖𝐶 = 𝐼𝑆 𝑒 𝑣𝐵𝐸 /V𝑇
𝐴𝐸 𝑞𝐷𝑛 𝑛𝑝0 𝐴𝐸 𝑞𝐷𝑛 𝑛𝑖2
𝐼𝑆 = =
𝑊 𝑁𝐴 𝑊

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𝐼𝑛 is the electron diffusion current.
 Equivalent Circuit Models

Nonlinear voltage-controlled Current-controlled

current source model current-source model

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 Equivalent Circuit Models

Voltage-controlled current source Current-controlled

model current-source model
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 Structure of Actual Transistors

𝐴𝐸 𝑞𝐷𝑛 𝑛𝑝0
𝐼𝑆 =
𝑊
𝐴𝐸 𝑞𝐷𝑛 𝑛𝑖2
=
𝑁𝐴 𝑊

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Operation of NPN Transistor
in Saturation Mode
 Operation of NPN BJT in Saturation Mode
• To operate BJT in saturation mode, both CBJ and
EBJ must be forward-biased

• A PN junction does not effectively become

forward biased until the forward voltage across it
exceeds approximately 0.4 V

• As 𝑣𝐶𝐵 is lowered below approximately 0.4 V, the

BJT enters saturation
• Increasing 𝑣𝐵𝐶 in the negative direction, i.e.,
increasing the forward-bias voltage of the CBJ-
reduces 𝑖𝐶

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 Minority-carrier Concentration Profile in
Base of Saturated Transistor
• Because CBJ is now forward biased,
the electron concentration at the
collector edge of the base is no longer
zero; rather, it is a value proportional to
𝑒 𝑣𝐵𝐶/𝑉𝑇

• Slope of concentration profile is

reduced in correspondence with the
reduction in 𝑖𝐶

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 Operation of NPN BJT in Saturation Mode

𝑖𝐶 = 𝐼𝑆 𝑒 𝑣𝐵𝐸 /𝑉𝑇 − 𝐼𝑆𝐶 𝑒 𝑣𝐵𝐶/𝑉𝑇

𝐼𝑆 𝑣 /𝑉
𝑖𝐵 = 𝑒 𝐵𝐸 𝑇 + 𝐼𝑆𝐶 𝑒 𝑣𝐵𝐶/𝑉𝑇
𝛽

𝑖𝑐
𝛽𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑑 = ቚ ≤𝛽
𝑖𝑏 𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

𝑉𝐶𝐸𝑠𝑎𝑡 = 𝑉𝐵𝐸 − 𝑉𝐵𝐶 ≅ 0.1 − 0.3𝑉

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PNP Transistor
 Current Flow in Active Mode

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 Differences between PNP and NPN BJTs

• Biasing voltages are applied oppositely to the npn, though still forward
biasing EBJ and reverse biasing the CBJ for active mode operation, for
example.
• Current is primarily composed of holes (in the p type regions) rather
than electrons as in the npn BJT.
• The current direction conventions are iE into the emitter while iC and iB
are out from the device.

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 Equivalent Circuit Models (Active Mode)

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 Review Questions

1. What are the bias conditions of the base-emitter and base-collector

junctions for a transistor to operate as an amplifier?
2. Which is the largest of the three transistor currents?
3. Is the base current smaller or larger than the emitter current?
4. Is the base region much thinner or much wider than the collector and
emitter regions?
5. If the collector current is 1 milli Amps and the base current is 10
micro Amps, what is the emitter current?

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 Next time:

BJT: Some Numerical Exercises

Most of the electrons flowing from the emitter into
the thin, lightly doped base region do not recombine
but diffuse into the BC depletion region. Once in this
region, they are pulled through the reverse-biased
BC junction by the electric field set up by the force
of attraction between the positive and negative ions.
Actually. you can think of the electrons as being
pulled across the reverse-biased BC junction by the
attraction of the collector supply voltage. The
electrons now move through the collector region,
out through the collector lead, and into the positive
terminal of the collector voltage source. This forms
the collector electron current.
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